Zine Abidine Ben Ali

President Zine Abidine ben Ali announced Saturday that he will seek election in April in Tunisia's first presidential balloting in 15 years. Ben Ali, 52, took power in November, 1987, ousting Habib Bourguiba, who had ruled for three decades. The presidential elections, the first since 1974, are expected to take place April 2 and will be the first public test of Ben Ali's popularity.

February 28, 2011 | By Borzou Daragahi and Sihem Hassaini, Los Angeles Times

The interim prime minister of the North African country that inspired the ongoing uprisings throughout the Arab world resigned Sunday after a new round of daily protests resulted in three weekend deaths. Interim President Fouad Mebazaa named Beji Caid Essebsi, a former foreign minister who served under Tunisia's long-ago President Habib Bourguiba, as new caretaker prime minister ahead of elections planned for the summer, state television reported. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, who served in the same post under deposed President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, bowed to public pressure and unruly street protests demanding that any traces of the former regime be purged from public life.

President Zine Abidine ben Ali was elected to a five-year term as Tunisians voted in presidential and legislative elections. Ben Ali, 54, who seized power in a bloodless takeover from President Habib Bourguiba in November, 1987, was the only candidate for the presidency. His ruling Constitutional Democratic Assembly party was expected to win most of the 141 legislative seats.

Tunisia's new interior minister on Sunday ordered the party of ousted President Zine el Abidine ben Ali to shut its offices and suspend all activities pending its formal dissolution as part of the purge of all vestiges of the former regime, state television reported. Interior Minister Farhat Rajhi, a former criminal court judge, has been a particularly zealous advocate of forcing former regime loyalists from power and has already purged his own ministry of top officials. He blamed members of the Constitutional Democratic Rally, the former ruling party, for a fresh outbreak of violence in the provinces that has left two dead in recent days.

President Habib Bourguiba was deposed Saturday by his second-in-command, Prime Minister Zine Abidine Ben Ali, who named himself president of the North African nation. In a statement read on the state-run Tunis radio, Ben Ali said the 84-year-old Bourguiba was deposed for "incompetence." Ben Ali said that based on his "faith in a medical report" he was removing Bourguiba from office "under Article 57" of the country's constitution.

The people of this North African country are quietly proud these days of what seems like a revolution without pain, their ability to end the long reign of elderly Habib Bourguiba without bloodshed, without fanfare and without panic. "It was a great historic event," Khemais Chamari, long known as an opposition leader, told a group of American journalists Sunday, "but it has passed as if it were no event at all."

Zine Abidine Ben Ali, a 51-year-old army general serving as premier, took over the presidency of Tunisia smoothly and peacefully Saturday after removing an aging President Habib Bourguiba at dawn from the nearly absolute power he had held for 31 years.

Nearly three months after having deposed Habib Bourguiba in a "constitutional coup," President Zine Abidine ben Ali is learning that it is harder to keep promises than it is to make them. Succeeding Bourguiba on Nov. 7 after having had the octogenarian founder of modern Tunisia medically certified as being too senile to continue in office, Ben Ali promised to democratize his predecessor's authoritarian and increasingly capricious regime.

As Tunisia's top general warned that the country's revolution "risks being lost," the fragile transitional government was on the verge of a fresh crisis Monday over an issue that has dogged it from the start: the inclusion of politicians associated with the regime ousted this month. Political insiders and media reports said changes in the interim government of Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi were imminent, and officials were in talks late into the night. Ghannouchi held the same post under President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, who was driven from power after weeks of street protests.

February 28, 2011 | By Borzou Daragahi and Sihem Hassaini, Los Angeles Times

The interim prime minister of the North African country that inspired the ongoing uprisings throughout the Arab world resigned Sunday after a new round of daily protests resulted in three weekend deaths. Interim President Fouad Mebazaa named Beji Caid Essebsi, a former foreign minister who served under Tunisia's long-ago President Habib Bourguiba, as new caretaker prime minister ahead of elections planned for the summer, state television reported. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, who served in the same post under deposed President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, bowed to public pressure and unruly street protests demanding that any traces of the former regime be purged from public life.

Facing mounting public pressure and the demands of a powerful labor union, Tunisia's interim government named 12 new ministers to the Cabinet late Thursday and removed those with ties to ousted authoritarian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, who served in the same post under Ben Ali, was among the few high-ranking officials to retain their positions. The ministers of defense, interior and foreign affairs, which are key posts, and nine others were replaced by figures considered independent.

Even in death they would not allow Marwan Jamli a moment's dignity. The same black-clad Interior Ministry troops who shot him in the chest and back a day earlier tear-gassed his grieving family members as they tried to carry his corpse to the cemetery. The army soldiers watching the Jan. 9 melee in this town near the Algerian border could no longer bear it. They ordered the security forces aside, and allowed his parents to place their elder son in the earth. Some of the soldiers saluted the mourners.

As Tunisia's top general warned that the country's revolution "risks being lost," the fragile transitional government was on the verge of a fresh crisis Monday over an issue that has dogged it from the start: the inclusion of politicians associated with the regime ousted this month. Political insiders and media reports said changes in the interim government of Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi were imminent, and officials were in talks late into the night. Ghannouchi held the same post under President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, who was driven from power after weeks of street protests.

The country's former ruling party announced the dissolution of its leadership committee and has voiced support for the new government, state television reported Thursday, as thousands rallied against the party in the capital and other cities. The national unity government also approved a blanket amnesty law for outlawed political parties and exiled dissidents, state television reported. In addition, all Cabinet members who were members of the former ruling party resigned from it. For 23 years, President Zine el Abidine ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally held sway over political and public life in Tunisia.

Tunisia's transitional government on Wednesday began to redress alleged financial and political abuses of the deposed ruler and his family as a measure of calm returned to a country roiled less than a week ago by a popular uprising. Newly sworn-in officials launched an investigation into the financial dealings of former President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, who fled the country Friday. They also have taken steps to address some of the human rights abuses during Ben Ali's 23-year-reign, announcing the release of 1,800 political prisoners.

The deep divide in Tunisia over the status and fate of the deposed dictator's ruling party threatened the fragile unity government on Tuesday just a day after it was announced. At least four former opposition figures quit the Cabinet, apparently under pressure from rank-and-file members opposed to the inclusion of six members of the previous regime in the transitional administration meant to pave the way for new elections. Rowdy demonstrators enraged over the participation in the government of members of former President Zine el Abidine ben Ali's ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally, or RCD, taunted baton-wielding police officers during cat-and-mouse clashes in the capital and other cities.

The deep divide in Tunisia over the status and fate of the deposed dictator's ruling party threatened the fragile unity government on Tuesday just a day after it was announced. At least four former opposition figures quit the Cabinet, apparently under pressure from rank-and-file members opposed to the inclusion of six members of the previous regime in the transitional administration meant to pave the way for new elections. Rowdy demonstrators enraged over the participation in the government of members of former President Zine el Abidine ben Ali's ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally, or RCD, taunted baton-wielding police officers during cat-and-mouse clashes in the capital and other cities.

January 13, 2011 | By Borzou Daragahi and Sihem Hassaini, Los Angeles Times

Tunisia's longtime president, rocked by weeks of unprecedented nationwide protests against his rule, suggested Thursday that he would abide by a constitutional age cap for head of state by not running again for office in 2014. He also promised freedom of speech, including lifting restrictions on the press and Internet as well as opening up the political system of his tightly controlled nation of 10 million. With human rights groups estimating that dozens have died at the hands of security forces in increasingly violent clashes, President Zine el Abidine ben Ali also pledged to lower food prices, create a committee to fight corruption and "string-pulling" and acknowledged errors in his 23 years of rule, though he blamed deputies whom he has begun firing.

January 16, 2011 | By Jeffrey Fleishman and Amro Hassan, Los Angeles Times

Hours after riots forced Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali to flee his country, hundreds of Egyptians poured into the streets of Cairo with a warning to their own authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak. "Ben Ali, tell Mubarak a plane is waiting for him too!" they chanted late Friday night. "We are next. Listen to the Tunisians; it's your turn, Egyptians!" The slogans were a burst of envy and elation in a country where people have protested for years but have never ignited a mass movement to threaten Mubarak's nearly 30-year-old police state.

The leadership of this troubled country changed hands for the second time in less than 24 hours Saturday as security forces and ordinary Tunisians struggled to quell mayhem that some have attributed to henchmen loyal to ousted President Zine el Abidine ben Ali. Fouad Mebazaa, president of the lower house of the parliament, was sworn in as chief of state amid fast-moving political developments and chaotic lawlessness that have transformed Tunisia into...